Baseball Rallies Early, Falters Late in Game Two

Saturday, May 2

Mount Pleasant, Mich.

1 p.m.

Central Michigan University

19-26, 9-17

Northern Illinois

28-13, 18-8

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Northern Illinois	4	0	0	1	0	1	0	3	1	10	12	0
Central Michigan	4	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	5	9	1

Photo by: Brayden Gallagher

5/2/2026 5:58:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Photo Gallery

Lineup shuffle provides early spark; Chippewas cede 10-5 result, weekend series to NIU

By: Harrison LaLone

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. — Central Michigan Baseball fell, 10-5, Saturday afternoon, ceding its Mid-American Conference weekend series to Northern Illinois.

"We're not thrilled with the result," Head Coach Jake Sabol said, "but the effort in which we played and how we played was night-and-day compared to yesterday."

The Chippewas will look to avoid a sweep at Theunissen Stadium Sunday at 1 p.m.

Saturday's contest opened just as Friday's had: a four-run opening frame for NIU. Where the stories diverged was a new-look lineup for Central Michigan that took charge of the situation.

"The response after going down four again, it very easily could have been, 'here we go again.'"

Cole Prout, Drew Loikits and Spencer Verburg combined for three straight base hits to lead off the bottom of the first. Verburg, back in his usual role behind the plate, loaded the bases with a gutsy bunt single.

"Verburg deserves to get up there and get a bunch of at-bats; Prout is really seeing the ball right now, he gets on-base a ton; Loikits has been leading our team in hitting over the last three weeks."

The trio at the top of the card accounted for seven of CMU's nine hits on Saturday.

"We felt like just finding a way to switch some things up to kind of jumpstart our dugout and our offense. I thought there was a lot of good from how it went today."

Harrison Bowman launched a bases-clearing double into left field to tie the contest after a bases-loaded walk and RBI for Bryson Webb.

The Chippewas met the challenge.

"They responded, they tied the game, they played well today."

Nate Ross took the hill to start the second in relief of Tyson Potts who took the decision, now 2-4 on the season. Ross logged five innings with just one earned run, two total, with three strikeouts to four hits.

"That was one of the best performances I've ever seen him have. He gave us chances and made some big pitches."

Ross was just three days removed from a two-inning midweek start against Grace Christian, but he was more than ready to take the ball again for CMU.

"He wanted us to roll him back out there and that's the kind of competitor he is, which is why we love him."

By the end of his shift, the Chippewas were well-within range in a 6-4 deficit.

Verburg launched his fifth home run of the season on an 0-1 pitch to lead off the bottom of the seventh inning to draw back within a run. The next three went down in order, though all three on well-batted balls to the outfield that failed to evade the NIU defense.

"I thought the offense picked up and took it up another notch today. I thought we were on the barrel a ton. I just praised the guys because of how many balls were hit 90-100 [miles per hour] off the barrel, and that is the goal offensively. [NIU] just found a few more away from defenders than we did today."

A trio of Huskies crossed the plate in the top half that followed to effectively seal it for the MAC regular season title-contenders.

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